Sunnyvale Police Dog’s Nose Is a Valuable Tool in County Fire Investigations

San Jose Mercury News ^ | February 5, 2017 | Victoria Kezra

[nickcarraway]

He patrols the streets, he searches for suspects, and he even investigates fires throughout Santa Clara County. But most of all, the city of Sunnyvale’s Kodiak just loves chewing on his ball.

Sunnyvale’s Department of Public Safety has one of the only police dogs in the state cross-trained for regular patrol work as well as accelerant detection, according to Capt. Shawn Ahearn. Kodiak, along with his handler, public safety officer Bill Whitaker, investigated 16 possible arsons in the city last year alone.

According to Ahearn, Kodiak is a resource for the county and beyond, having been called in to investigate possible arson fires around the county as well as being on call to help in cases spanning as far south as Bakersfield and as far north as Portland.

The German Shepherd turns 3 in April and joined the city in March 2015. He is the first accelerant detection dog to be on the city’s DPS force, which trains its personnel in police, fire and emergency services.

DPS has three other dogs on the force: two that specialize in sniffing out narcotics and a dog who specializes in explosives detection. The dogs give the department a wide array of skills for various situations. Kodiak specifically is trained in identifying 14 different odors. He most commonly sniffs for evidence of gas and kerosene at the scene of suspicious fires, Whitaker said.

“He’s cross-trained so he can do patrol work which is building searches, area searches, locating missing people, suspect apprehension, and then he also does the accelerant detection work,” said Capt. Vinny Matta, who coordinates the DPS K-9 program.

[nickcarraway]

[faithhopecharity]

nice woof!
(the nice woof may be cross-trained because Sunnyvale has a public safety department that combined police, fire, and emergency medical response services)

[Nothingburger]

You can just look at him and tell that he’s one K-9 who loves his job.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks...hits close to home for us. My daughter is a vet tech, son is becoming a fire fighter, we live nearby and all love dogs. Great story. Thanks for posting!